Generally, scorched rice soup (also called “Nurungji Tang” in Korean) is prepared by adding a predetermined amount of water to scorched rice formed after cooking rice and then boiling the mixture at 100° C. for 10 minutes or longer.
There are a variety of conventional methods for preparing scorched rice soup. For example, methods for preparing instant (precooked) scorched rice or dry-type scorched rice that can be eaten only after heating are disclosed in KR Patent Application Nos. 10-1974-1979, 10-1983-2843, 10-1984-6509, 10-1987-9919, 10-1990-18920, and 10-1991-22412. In addition, KR Patent Application No. 10-1993-934 discloses a method for preparing instant rice soup (also called “Sungnyung” in Korean) comprising steaming a rice or cereal mixture in an automatic rice cooker, molding scorched rice obtained thereby using a scorched rice molder, soaking the scorched rice in tepid water, followed by rapid freeze-drying such that water content is adjusted to 80 to 90 wt %, vacuum-drying, such that water content is adjusted to 5 wt % or less and vacuum packaging.
In addition, KR Patent Application No. 10-2003-9247 discloses concentrated rice soup which is concentrated, sterilized and packaged in order to obtain rice soup in home by adding hot water thereto, and KR Utility Model Application 20-2005-3671 discloses an instant rice soup product prepared by mixing water, polished rice and brown rice, homogeneously heating the mixture to a temperature of 140 to 180° C. to simultaneously perform steaming and roasting, and naturally drying.
The conventional dry-type scorched rice which can be eaten by adding boiling water thereto exhibits a deterioration in taste such as texture or flavor, as compared to homemade scorched rice soup. The dry-type scorched rice which can be eaten by adding water thereto, followed by boiling also has unsatisfactory qualities in terms of flavor and texture, although it exhibits superior quality as compared to the previous case.
Accordingly, the scorched rice soup prepared in accordance with a conventional method has disadvantages of being highly perishable and having poor taste.
As a result of a great deal of intensely repeated research and experiments to overcome the disadvantages, the inventors of the present invention discovered a method for preparing scorched rice which satisfies superior qualities such as taste, flavor and texture.